Proud
by nubianamy
Summary: Donutverse #13: An anniversary one-shot Toby/Will story in celebration of PrideFest, set in the Donutverse. The summer after moving to Ohio, Toby takes Will Schuester back to Denver for PrideFest. Cowritten with knittycat99.


_Authors' note: This is a short story set in the Donutverse, about Will Schuester and his long-term boyfriend, Toby Grey. Toby has recently moved to Ohio, and the summer after that, Will goes back to Denver with Toby for his first PrideFest. _

_If you want to read more about Will and Toby, start with Just That Side of True, which tells their history beginning in fourth grade. Will and Toby feature in the Donutverse timeline beginning with Bending in the Archer's Hand. We are currently working on a new Will/Toby story. _

_Enjoy. -amy and knittycat99_

* * *

**June 2010**

The argument was the same as always, but Will just didn't have the energy to fight when he'd let himself into Toby's house on Friday night after school to find Toby pricing tickets to Denver.

"What's wrong with celebrating pride in Columbus?" Will asked half-heartedly as he unloaded Chinese containers onto the counter and pulled plates out of the cupboard.

"Nothin's _wrong_ with Pride in Columbus, I just think you'd have more fun if we go to Denver." Toby clicked his mouse a couple of times, and Will swung around him with a dish of mu shu chicken and Mongolian beef.

"I think _you'd_ have more fun if we went to Denver." Will placed a gentle kiss on the top of Toby's head and positioned the plate at his elbow.

"Pride is all about community, darlin', and my community ain't _in_ Columbus. And since you don't have a community to speak of, _I_ think we should go to the last place I had _my_ community." He let his finger hover over the touchpad on his laptop. "We can fly out Friday and back in on Monday since it's after school is out, and we can stay with Tom and Eric. They live two blocks from the parade route."

Will lowered himself into the chair next to Toby and sighed. "I'm not going to win this, am I?"

Toby shook his head and smiled before clicking to purchase the tickets. "No, darlin', you ain't." He rubbed his hands together. "We're goin' to Denver for Pride!"

* * *

Tom hoisted the cooler filled with drinks into the wagon, and lifted a squealing Brian to sit beside it. "Don't stand up," he cautioned.

"Okay, Papa." Brian pushed his fine brown hair out of his eyes and took the sunglasses Tom held out. It took him two tries to settle them on his face, and when he had, he waved. "I'm ready, everyone! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

Will chuckled, and barely hesitated when Toby reached for his hand. Toby pulled him close. "It's safe here, especially this weekend."

"It's just hard to get used to," Will said, glancing up and down the street. "It's different at the theater. This... this is _public."_ He chuckled nervously. "Like, really public."

"You ain't seen _nothin'_, darlin'. Family Day is pretty tame. Tomorrow is another story!" Toby snaked an arm around Will's waist, and Will couldn't help but relax into the touch.

"What is Family Day, anyway?" Will called up to Tom, who was walking behind the wagon to make sure that Brian didn't accidentally throw himself over the side.

"They started it a few years ago, for families to bring their kids, and for people who want less crazy than what will be here tomorrow. They have a kids' parade and face painting and music. And it's a great time to visit all the different vendors - because, really, tomorrow is all about beer and hot boys!" Tom winked at Will. "Eric doesn't mind if I look."

Will regarded Toby's smirk with a wry grin. "I'm sure Toby wouldn't mind if I did, either."

"You know it, darlin'." Will jumped as Toby's hand strayed to his ass and gave him a little goose.

"Hey," he protested, looking meaningfully at little Brian in the wagon. "So, if tomorrow's all about beer and hot... er, boys, what's today about?" He eyed Tom's P-FLAG t-shirt. "Pride?"

"Family," Toby told him. "Community. Visibility. Being _seen_."

"You've never had a problem being seen," Will answered.

"Yes, but there's plenty of folks who have trouble _seeing._ All those people who pass, who go through their ordinary days with no one realizing they're gay - this is their chance to stand up, to be counted, to be part of an "us" instead of a "them.""

"Why the emphasis on family? I mean, not every gay or lesbian couple has kids." He was feeling a little overwhelmed, and so very very straight in that moment.

"It's not about having kids, or not," Eric's voice drifted back from where he was pulling the wagon. "It's about creating family for ourselves, our chosen family outside of the ones we were born into. Sometimes, there's overlap. But sometimes our chosen family is all we have."

"Chosen family," Will repeated. "I like that. You know, being part of Glee is like that - it's like a family, too." He ran a finger along Toby's ring, seated comfortably on the fourth finger of his left hand. Toby didn't look at him, but Will saw his smile deepen, and his blush spread along the neck of his tank top.

"You've always told your kids in Glee that they should be proud of themselves," Toby pointed out. "It's hard enough to be part of a club that everybody else makes fun of. They need their pride." He shrugged. "This is no different."

Will leaned in closer and whispered into Toby's neck. "I just don't know what I have to be proud _of_."

Toby sighed. "Oh, darlin'. You _have_ to start letting go of all of that. There's no right journey here. Everyone finds themselves in their own way and their own time. Be proud that you're here, _now_, with me. That can be enough for now. You have the rest of your life to figure the rest out."

Will felt a rush of love for Toby, so bold, so much himself all the time. But on the heels of the love came frustration, and irritation that Toby expected him to be, suddenly, something _other_ than what he'd been all his life. "I just don't know if I'm even ready for _this,"_ he said. But his feet kept walking forward, and looking down at Brian riding in the wagon made him feel more calm.

Toby straightened his back and thrust out his chest, clad in his G.A.Y. (Girls Are Yucky) tank top. "You've got to start somewhere. Why not now?"

"Because all your friends think I'm a... what was it?" Will gave a short, humorless laugh. "Oh, yes, a spineless closeted prick."

"Colin ain't my friend, darlin'. And I'm marrying _you_, so you're definitely not spineless _or_ closeted." Toby glanced at him, and shushed him. "You're not closeted to yourself, or to me, or Emma."

"Don't forget the kids in Glee." Will lowered his voice.

"I would never forget them. The point I was tryin' to make is that you're _out._ There's no right way to do that, either. I worked with a director once who was only out to a handful of people, and that was all he needed. So don't let nobody tell you that you're _wrong_, Will. About anything."

Will took a deep breath. He looked inside himself for that center, that mantra he repeated when he'd gone walking in Denver, that said _you're home, this is your home, you're with Toby, this is where you belong. _When he found it, he hung on tight, and said, "Okay. I think I'm ready."

* * *

They ate breakfast on the front porch at Tom and Eric's, a mere block from where the parade was going to be. Will wasn't sure what he'd expected, but the meager crowd trickling past the house in twos and threes wasn't it. He flipped his sunglasses up on top of his head and whispered at Toby. "I thought this was the gay event of the season. Where is everyone?"

Toby just laughed. "The parade doesn't start for another half hour. There's nothing wrong with being fashionably late."

Eric eyed Will with a smile. "You should probably be prepared to hear some... words today. Words describing gay people." He grinned at Toby. "A little birdie told me they make you kind of uncomfortable."

"Okay," Will said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Like what?"

Toby cleared his throat. "Darlin'," he began.

"I know that one," Will said, deadpan, and Eric laughed. Will smiled. "Let me try: homo?"

"Way to be so '80s, Will," Toby sighed. "Maybe. How about fag?"

"Okay," Will said again, and this time he swallowed against the constriction in his throat. "That's meant affectionately? Or is it still a slam? Because it sure is at the high school where I teach."

"Here, too," Toby nodded, "but among grown gay men, it's generally used kindly. Also queen. And queer."

"Now _that _one, I don't think I'll ever get used to." Will shook his head, watching Brian fly his Buzz Lightyear figure across the porch. "Would you say that in front of Brian?"

"Probably," Eric said. "I don't think I would censor it. It's an all-inclusive term, you know. Works for those weird bi people too." His grin was wicked, and Toby shook his head in amusement.

"The words aren't gonna bite you, darlin'. At least not here, not today." Toby squeezed his hand.

Will sighed. "I know. There's just a lot of history there. I don't know if it'll ever feel okay, to be... to use those words. About anybody."

Toby pulled Will back against his chest and wrapped his arms around him. "Nobody's sayin' you have to. I just wanted you to be prepared."

"Okay," Will said, but the unease continued, winding its way up from his stomach to his chest, making his breathing tight. Toby's touch wasn't helping today. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was already two steps behind everybody else; like there was an inside joke he was supposed to get, but he couldn't make sense of the punch line.

"Can we get you a pride shirt?" Eric offered. "I've got a box of them inside, if you want; you can take your pick."

Will tried to shake his head against Toby's chest, but Toby relaxed his embrace and tugged Will into the house even as he whispered in his ear. "Look at the shirts, but I have one for you if you don't like any of theirs."

Eric brought a box down from the attic and left it on the kitchen table for Will to paw through while he cleaned up the breakfast dishes. "Some of those are a little out there," he warned Will. "Nobody's ever accused Tom of being subtle."

"This one is good," Will said, holding up a shirt with a rainbow flag that read _Like A Stonewall, These Colors Don't Run._

Toby unfurled _I'm Not Gay But My Boyfriend Is_, and held it out to Will, who raised both eyebrows and backed away, laughing. "Are you implying something?"

"Darlin,' you've been sayin' it for fifteen years," Toby said, and his smile was a little sad. Will wasn't sure what to say, so he just shook his head, and Toby put the shirt back in the box.

Next Will took out _The Constitution is Not a Weapon of Mass Discrimination._ "Too wordy, but I like the sentiment. I think I'd just feel weird while people stared at my chest, trying to figure it out."

"You could just go shirtless," Toby suggested, and giggled when Will swatted him with the t-shirt.

"I like that blue one," Eric said, and Will took it out to read _Focus on Your Own Damn Family._ He smiled ruefully. "There's a couple homophobic families at Brian's preschool, but so far they're mostly quiet around us."

"How about this one?" Toby held out _I Can't Even Think Straight. _"It's nebulously gay. You know, gay lite."

"Uh," Will stammered. He felt the panic descend on him like a curtain, and he backed up a few steps. "I'm... Toby, I don't think I can wear any of these." The words echoed in his head, the words he'd said over and over, and he had to bite them back to keep them from tripping off his lips now: _I'm not gay._

"It's okay," Toby soothed. He slowly folded the shirts and tucked them back inside the box. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

Will watched Toby dash up the stairs, and heard him rustling around in the guest bedroom. When he returned to the kitchen, he was holding a white plastic bag folded around something black. When Will dug into the bag, his hand touched cotton. The shirt was soft, looked like it would fit snugly. There was a rainbow triangle on the front, and underneath in white lettering read _Visibility=Life_. Will smiled at Toby in thanks, but he still felt like he was missing something.

Tom took in the front of the shirt appraisingly, and nodded at Will. "It's a play on the old ACT UP t-shirts, _Silence=Death_. They were all the rage, as it were, during the height of AIDS. I think I might like this message better."

Will closed his eyes against visions of Toby as a kid, defiant and proud; visions of Kurt, fighting the world with every breath in his body. He breathed in the calmness of finally giving in to the _want_ he'd carried for all those years, when he opened his eyes to the world again, he smiled in genuine happiness. "I agree."

The shirt was a perfect fit.

* * *

Will wasn't sure what he'd expected, really, but for a gay pride parade there were an awful lot of politicians and church groups mixed in with the floats for bars and corporations, and more gay and lesbian sports organizations than Will had ever thought of (_badminton? really?)_. He looked over the sea of faces, but other than the preponderance of rainbows in their wardrobes, it seemed just like any large gathering of people - all sizes, shapes, colors and family configurations.

"I don't understand some of these." He gestured at the float with the big tooth. "Honestly, why do you need a gay dentist?"

"It's a question of economy, darlin'," said Toby, squinting into the sun and appraising the size of the crowd down the road. "If you have a choice, why not support someone from your own community? Not that a gay dentist would be any better than a straight one, but if you can give money to the gay community, why not?"

"But it doesn't _go_ to the gay community," Will argued. "It goes to that one gay guy. He buys food for his family and takes himself to the movies. The end."

"Or he buys tickets to a show with Toby in it, and supports the community that way," Eric pointed out. "Or he gets a book at the gay bookstore."

"Which closed last week, because of the fucking Barnes and Nobles and Amazons of the world. Sorry," Toby added, nodding at the four-year-old in the wagon.

Tom shook his head. "He's heard worse in our kitchen. Don't worry about it."

Will just watched, as float after float passed by. He was feeling so disconnected from all of it, and was wallowing in the feeling when Toby gasped beside him and grasped his hand.

"What is it?" Will was used to Toby being all kinds of relaxed in public. When he actually looked, followed Toby's gaze to the street, he saw a group of teens marching behind a banner that read "Rainbow Alley."

"What-?" Will started to ask, but Toby filled him in.

"It's the youth center downtown. And those," Toby was nodding at three kids who looked to be 16 or so, slightly off to the side of the main group holding the banner, "are three of my former students." He shook his head, and whispered almost to himself. "I had no idea."

Will put a hand on Toby's arm. "How would you, if they weren't out?"

"They could have been, to me. I would have been safe."

"You still can," Will smiled. "Aren't you the one who keeps telling me that it's never too late to make a difference?"

Toby lifted his head. "You're right." He stuck two fingers between his lips and let out a wolf whistle. The girl who was standing between the two boys turned her head at the sound. Will watched while she nudged her friends, and before he even realized that they had seen Toby, they were breaking away from the rest of their group and barrelling over to the sidewalk.

"Mr. Grey, Mr. Grey!" The girl flung herself at Toby, laughing. "I thought you moved."

Toby wrapped his arms around her, and smiled into her hair. "Hi, Molly. I did. But I had to come back for Pride." The boys hung back, unsure, without the bubbly confidence of their friend. Will watched as Toby disengaged from the girl and nodded at the two of them. "Paul, Derek. Are you having fun?"

The taller blond one nodded. "We had a battle this morning, though. Derek's dad didn't want to let him out of the house."

Molly giggled. "Yeah. We had to go all queer commando, but he finally gave in."

Toby looked solemnly at Derek. "You okay?" The boy nodded without much conviction, and Toby moved closer to him. He couldn't hear Toby's whisper over the collective noise of the crowd and the _thump-thump_ of Donna Summer blaring from one of the floats that was inching it's way past, but he could gather from Toby's hand on Derek's shoulder and Derek's frantic tapping on his cell phone's keypad that Toby was giving him contact information. Through all of that, Paul and Molly were eyeing Will with sideways glances.

Molly finally squared her shoulders and stuck out her hand. "I'm Molly. Are you Mr. Grey's boyfriend?"

"I- yes." Her handshake was firm and strong, and her presence reminded Will of Rachel. "I'm Will. Toby- er, Mr. Grey, is my boyfriend."

"Fiancé, darlin'." Toby was back, an arm wrapped around Will's waist.

Molly looked like she wanted to stay and talk, but Paul was impatient behind her. "Molls, jeez. Now we're gonna have to run to catch up with the group."

Toby waved them off. "It was great to see you, guys. Happy Pride!"

"They seem sweet," Will said as the kids disappeared back into the crowd.

"They are. Good kids. Talented. And lucky to have each other." He shook his head. "Derek..."

"Reminds you of yourself. And Kurt." Will relaxed into Toby's body.

"Yeah. But at least Kurt has his dad and Carole. That's why . . ."

"You gave him your phone number."

Toby nodded. "No kid should _have_ to end up in a shelter or doing some of the things I did to get by."

Will pulled Toby close and breathed in the sun-warmed scent of him. "That is just one of so many things I admire about you: that you care so much." He started for a moment at the gentle pressure of Toby's lips against his; he knew there wasn't anything to be ashamed of, not _today_, so he gave in to the kiss, to Toby's hands, warm and strong against his face. He tightened his arms around Toby's waist, and just kissed him.

When they pulled apart, Will let Toby hold him close and rest his chin on Will's shoulder. The click and flash of a camera didn't even catch their attention.

* * *

Will's head was pounding. Toby wanted to head down to the festival, but he just wanted a glass of water and a cool place to get out of the sun. His brain was full of images of the day; he wasn't sure he could process them all.

"I think I'm going to take a break for a little while," he said, gesturing to Charlie Brown's Bar and Grille one block over. "Can you come find me in an hour?"

"If you're sure you'll be okay." Toby's energy hadn't diminished since they'd arrived that morning, and he was clearly ready for more. Will nodded, giving him a gentle push on his arm.

"I'm a big boy," he said, smiling tiredly. "I'll call you if I need anything."

Toby gave him a quick kiss and wheeled the wagon down the sidewalk, singing a song about crocodiles with Brian. Will felt a little guilty abandoning Toby, but he didn't seem upset by it. He crossed the street, pushed open the door and stepped into the cool, dim restaurant.

He slid into a stool at the bar and immediately felt much better. Sitting in a room with a bunch of average-looking strangers gave him a sense of normalcy. He took a deep breath, and felt his shoulders relax and the tension in his chest ease.

The bartender nodded at him, and Will ordered a whiskey sour. He let the first sip burn a trail down his throat, the last bit of tension he was holding onto disappearing. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them there was a woman sitting on the stool next to him.

"Rough day?" She nodded at his drink.

"'Scuse me?" He didn't understand the way the people here just made small talk with strangers. It was unnerving.

"Drinking alone before noon?" She quirked an eyebrow at him. "I mean, if you were out there and it were beer, that would be one thing. It is Pride, after all."

Will took another sip of his drink in an attempt to find his words. "Well... I'm here visiting a friend, and it's all a little overwhelming. So, yeah, I guess I need to relax."

The bartender filled a glass with Coke from the fountain, dropped in a wedge of lime, and set it in front of her. Will laughed. "That's a little lightweight."

"Nothing's lightweight in my family. Better to stay away."

Something in her tone told him not to push, so he didn't. Instead, he took the bowl of pretzels from his left and slid them over between them. "So where are _your_ friends today?"

"I've only lived here three weeks. I don't count the people I work with as friends, at least not yet."

Will munched a pretzel. "It seems like a shame that you have to spend Pride alone."

"Says the man crying into his drink while his friends have a good time." She paused for a moment. "You _do_ have friends, right?"

Will laughed, sharply, before holding out his hand. "I'm Will. My uh, my boyfriend Toby and his friends are down at the festival."

"Nora." She took his hand; hers was cool from her glass. "Too much for your first Pride, huh?"

He stared at her for a moment. "How could you tell?"

Nora scoffed at him. "Please. I may be from Mississippi, but I didn't fall off a truck yesterday. You look like I felt at my first Pride. It can be a little much, sometimes. You'll get used to it."

Somewhere between the rush of the morning and the sun and altitude and the bottom half of his whiskey sour, Will had lost his filter. "What if I don't want to get used to it?"

Nora poked at the lime wedge with her straw. "Too long being straight, huh? What were you, married?"

Will nodded at the bartender for a second drink, and then back at Nora in affirmation. "And Toby and me... well. _That's_ a really long story. But here I am, gone from straight and married to... not straight and engaged, in 6 months."

Nora just fixed him with a stare. "I reckon you've been gay a lot longer than that."

Will choked on his drink, but the tears in his eyes weren't from the fire in his throat. His instinct was still to force out his lifelong story. _I'm not gay._ He actually had to swallow the words back lest Nora think he was an even bigger mess than he already seemed. Suddenly, he was angry. "Why do I have to _label_ it? Why can't I just love him? Isn't that enough?"

"Is it enough for what? For you? Sure seems so. For him?" She cocked her head, and nodded when he sighed. "Looks like not. What about for your friends? Your community? The rest of the world?"

Will gazed at his hands, at his finger, devoid of a ring these past eight months, and felt the anger drain away. "I used to have a relationship that looked good on the outside. You know, the one everyone said I _should_ have." He barked a morose laugh. "Turns out _nobody _actually thought it was good for me. I was just lying to myself, for over ten years. Longer, really."

"That's a long time to live a lie." Nora made circles on the wood of the bar with her glass. "Why'd you do it?"

"Why did -" He gave her a funny look, and laughed again. "I'd think it'd be pretty obvious." He threw back the rest of his drink, and it went down smooth. "I mean... who'd _want_ to be gay?"

"Oh, I don't know. Sounds like you got to live both lives. Which one was better?"

He blinked slowly, feeling the effect of the whiskey, and was overtaken by memories of Toby at B-W, his first home; sleeping together every night; spending summers together for so many years. He felt an errant tear slide down his cheek, and he didn't bother to brush it away. "He - he always made me feel like it was okay. Even when_ I _was convinced it wasn't."

"Yeah. And you know what?" He looked up at her friendly face. "It is. It's okay. You get to love whoever you want to love. There's nothing wrong with being gay."

He just shook his head. "I'm a teacher. I tell kids all the time that they need to believe in themselves, trust their instincts. I tell them they should be proud of who they are." He swallowed the lump in his throat. "How can I tell them that, when I don't - when I can't even be proud of who _I_ am?"

Nora sucked up the last of her Coke, and tipped the glass back, trapping an ice cube in her teeth. She crunched it for a moment, and gave Will a pointed glance. "You went to the parade today, and you wore that shirt. _You_ did those things. It's a start. It's a process. Don't beat yourself up for something that doesn't happen overnight. You may not be proud of who you are _yet_, but you'll get there."

"That's what Toby keeps telling me, too."

"He's right. As for your kids at school, you might think about whether your struggle could help any of them at all. Because it doesn't matter how small a town you're from, you're _never_ the only one."

"Oh, I know I'm not." He held the image of Kurt, and Finn and Puck, in his head, and Santana and Brittany, and all the kids who hadn't yet figured it out. Like him. "I - I bet it would be easier, for them, if they knew they had a teacher who's... like them."

"Maybe not easier, but less lonely, perhaps. Less scary. Less lots of things."

He indicated the little stage, the karaoke machine in the front of the bar. "I help kids overcome their fear all the time. They get up in front of their peers, sometimes their enemies, and they bare their souls. They make a difference with their words."

Nora nodded. "What would you want to say to them now, if they were here?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I'm so confused."

"That's what you should say, then. There's no crime in being honest."

He stood slowly, testing his sea legs after two drinks in short succession, and walked to the front of the bar, scrolling through the music catalog. "One confused man, coming up," he said, selecting a song and picking up the microphone.

_Rows and flows of angel hair  
__And ice cream castles in the air  
__And feather canyons everywhere  
__I've looked at clouds that way_

_But now they only block the sun  
__They rain and snow on everyone  
__So many things I would have done  
__But clouds got in my way_

_I've looked at clouds from both sides now  
__From up and down, and still somehow  
__It's clouds' illusions I recall  
__I really don't know clouds at all_

He thought of all the things in his life that he'd done that he thought were going to be good for him. Terri was just the most obvious one. He wasn't in love with her anymore, but he definitely was still stuck on their daughter - who'd turned out to be an illusion, anyway.

And then he thought of Toby, and how Toby had always given him every bit of himself, even when Will couldn't do the same. Even through Will's fear and anger and self-hatred, Toby never stopped loving him, never stopped trusting he was the answer. Will didn't know what he'd done to deserve such love, but it was time to stop taking it for granted.

_Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels  
__The dizzy dancing way you feel  
__As every fairy tale comes real  
__I've looked at love that way_

_But now it's just another show  
__You leave 'em laughing when you go  
__And if you care, don't let them know  
__Don't give yourself away_

_I've looked at love from both sides now  
__From give and take, and still somehow  
__It's love's illusions I recall  
__I really don't know love at all_

A slim line of light caught Will's attention, and he looked towards the door to see Toby tucking himself into the bar. His breath caught briefly in his throat. He'd been watching Toby move into spaces for the better part of his life, and it always stopped his heart for a fraction of a second. _Always_. How could he have been so blind? So distanced from himself that it had taken him _so fucking long_ to figure it out?

The bar was full, but Will kept his eyes trained on Toby's face as it shifted from slight annoyance to softness. Toby leaned against the wall by the door and wrapped his arms around himself, and Will could almost feel the goosebumps on Toby's arms from across the room. He was pretty sure they weren't from the air-conditioning. Will wanted to make sure that Toby understood that all of his confusion and fear over the years had nothing to do with Toby at all, and _everything_ to do with himself.

_Tears and fears and feeling proud  
__To say "I love you" right out loud  
__Dreams and schemes and circus crowds  
__I've looked at life that way_

_But now old friends are acting strange  
__They shake their heads, they say I've changed  
__Well, something's lost, but something's gained  
__In living every day_

_I've looked at life from both sides now  
__From win and lose and still somehow  
__It's life's illusions I recall  
__I really don't know life at all_

He set the microphone down before the last notes played on the speakers, and stepped down from the stage to stumble into Toby's arms. "I love you," he said through gritted teeth. "I'm sorry - I don't think I've been able to tell you that, with an honest heart, since we got here. But I do. God, so much."

"I know, darlin'," Toby murmured. "Don't you worry about a thing."

"I really don't know what I'm doing," Will said, feeling the anguish crest. "I'm - I'm scared. I'm scared of fucking up again. You don't deserve that."

Toby shook his head into Will's shoulder, smiling. "I told you, I'm prepared for that. I know this is a big step for you. You love me, but that's just between you and me, especially when you've been remindin' me for years that you're not gay. Gettin' married, that's a whole other ballgame."

"But - Toby." Will took a deliberate breath, glancing over at Nora, watching him with an encouraging expression. "I am."

Toby blinked. "You are what?"

"I'm -" He looked down at the rainbow on his shirt, for just a moment, and then up at Toby's clear brown eyes, and smiled. "I'm gay."

For a moment, Will thought Toby might pass out. He opened his mouth and closed it twice, without making any noise, and his skin went a shade paler than Will had ever seen it before. Then he let out a great joyous whoop, and lifted Will right off the ground, spinning him around. Will protested weakly, laughing, and when Toby kissed him, he didn't hesitate to kiss him right back.

"I'll be hornswoggled," Toby declared, with a big, breathless smile. He put a hand to his forehead in a fake swooning gesture. "My stars!" he drawled, thicker and deeper than Will had heard him in years. "Will Schuester is gay!"

Will kissed him soundly. He could feel color high in his cheeks when they pulled apart. "Yes, _darlin'_. And don't you forget it."

* * *

**Monday morning, Akron, OH**

Shelby didn't even open her front door until close to noon, because Beth had been with Puck for the weekend and her body had decided that she needed to sleep more than she needed to do anything else, including the mountain of baby laundry. Even with all the sleep, she was still groggy when she retrieved her USA Today. She fumbled through making a pot of coffee, and figured she'd just page through the paper while she had the chance. Puck wasn't due back with Beth until 2, after all, and it had been a while since she'd had a chance at a leisurely brunch, even if it was a Monday.

Two pages in, her coffee sat forgotten at her elbow. Because there, in full color, was her choreographer - with his arms around her competition.

"Well, shit. Will Schuester." Shelby shook her head. "I guess he was gay after all."

She pulled her phone off the charger and opened up a new text message window.

* * *

Toby was browsing through the mysteries at the airport bookstore, waiting on Will to pick a magazine, _any_ magazine, when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out, surprised to see a new text from Shelby.

He almost dropped it when he read the message.

"_Will_." He whispered harshly, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. "Come here. We have a situation."

Will's eyes were wide as Toby tossed Time Magazine aside and pulled him out into the crowded concourse. "Where are we going?"

"Just . . . hold on." Toby pulled up at the newsstand, and swiped a USA Today off the stack of national papers by the register. He flipped it to the second page, and let out a small sigh. "Well, darlin'." He turned the paper so Will could see the two of them in the moments after his students had scampered off into the crowd, Toby's arms around Will, holding him close. His chin on Will's shoulder. And the stark white lettering of Will's t-shirt. There was no identification with the picture. But people would see it. _Shelby_ had seen it. "I don't think you're going to have to worry too much about coming out. Seems that USA Today has done it for you."


End file.
